A Study On The Use Of Lexical Bundles By Chinese English Learners In Academic Writing

In recent years,research on lexical bundles is gradually becoming a hot topic in the area of language learning(Ma,2009),and in a particular register,the use of lexical bundles has been regarded as a marker of proficient language use(Cortes,2004).Despite the large number of studies in this respect,however,few studies are conducted to compare lexical bundles used by Chinese PhD students and MA students of English linguistics.Of the few studies,some found that compared to Chinese MA students of English linguistics,PhD students are closer to experts in using lexical bundles(e.g.,Xu,2012;Wang&Li,2014);meanwhile,doctoral dissertations and masters' theses all pertain to pedagogical genre,showing much comparability.Hence,it is believed that a comparative study on lexical bundle use between Chinese PhD students and MA students of English linguistics is of both great necessity and significance for the classroom instruction of academic writing.Based on the research background,this study compares the characteristics of lexical bundle use between Chinese PhD students and MA students of English linguistics in academic writing.Specifically,this study investigates the lexical bundles used by the two groups from three aspects—structure of the lexical bundles,function of the lexical bundles and the association between the structure and function of the lexical bundles.To achieve the objectives,this study adopts the corpus-based approach and is guided by two classification schemes.The comparative analysis is based on two self-built corpora,each of which contains about 500,000 running words.In terms of classification schemes,Biber,Johansson,Leech,Conrad and Finegan's(1999)structural classification of lexical bundles and Hyland's(2008a)functional classification of lexical bundles are adopted to guide data analysis.A statistical data analysis shows both similarities and differences in lexical bundle use between Chinese PhD students and MA students of English linguistics in academic writing.On the one hand,the two groups have shared characteristics in lexical bundle use:(1)in terms of structure,both groups use more prepositional and noun lexical bundles than verbal and clausal lexical bundles;(2)in terms of function,research-oriented and text-oriented lexical bundles account for the vast majority of the total while participant-oriented lexical bundles account for less;(3)in terms of the association between the structure and function of lexical bundles,research-oriented and text-oriented lexical bundles are mostly composed of prepositional and noun lexical bundles while participant-oriented lexical bundles are largely made up of verbal and clausal lexical bundles.On the other hand,compared to Chinese PhD students of English linguistics,overuse and underuse of certain types of lexical bundles coexist among Chinese MA students:(1)compared to PhD students,MA students use more lexical bundles in a highly significant frequent way,but less than half of the lexical bundles used by them are the same as those used by PhD students;(2)in terms of structure,for prepositional and noun lexical bundles as well as verbal and clausal lexical bundles.MA students use both categories more frequently than PhD students in a highly significant way,but compared to PhD students,they are less inclined to use prepositional and noun lexical bundles while more inclined to use verbal and clausal lexical bundles;and in particular,they use significantly more types of verbal lexical bundles and clausal lexical bundles than PhD students,implying that doctoral dissertations are more in line with the stylistic features of academic writing than masters' theses;(3)in terms of function,firstly,MA students use more research-oriented lexical bundles and fewer text-oriented lexical bundles;secondly,MA students use substantially more types of participant-oriented lexical bundles and use them more frequently in comparison with PhD students,and most of the participant-oriented lexical bundles used are subject to engagement features and include the hedge can.The results show MA students'preference for impersonality and writer anonymity,indicating the degree of their prudence,or rather,their confidence in academic writing;(4)from the perspective of the association between the structure and function of lexical bundles,first and foremost,in comparison with PhD students,MA students are marked by a relatively heavy use of verbal and clausal lexical bundles in depicting research,conveying their opinions and interacting with readers,which again confirms that doctoral dissertations are more in line with the stylistic features of academic writing than masters' theses;in addition,MA students are less flexible than PhD students in the use of different types of lexical bundles while constructing texts.In view of the findings mentioned above,this study sheds light on the understanding of lexical bundle use in academic writing as well as in academic writing instruction,which will contribute a lot to the improvement of academic writing level of Chinese MA students of English linguistics.In addition,this study also has its limitations,based on which suggestions for future research are pointed out.Despite the limitations,this study has both practical and theoretical significance.